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Series Governmental investigations--British Columbia
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Dept. of Indian Affairs records with regard to British Columbia

The series consists of the records of the Office of the Indian Reserve Commissioner for British Columbia (1884-1898), the Office of the Indian Superintendent for British Columbia (1884-1894), plus records from the Office of the Indian Commissioner for British Columbia and its antecedent Office of the Chief Inspector of Indian Agencies (1910-1956). Also included are records of the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for British Columbia [McBride-McKenna Commission] (1858-1930, but mainly from the period 1913-1916) along with field office records of the Nass, Skeena, and Queen Charlotte Indian agencies (1910-1968).

The records include correspondence inward, hearing transcripts, and exhibits. The following descriptions of the five series which comprise this unit have been adapted from the RG 10 Inventory, published by the Public Archives of Canada (PAC):
I. Office of the Indian Reserve Commissioner for the Province of British Columbia, 1884-1898 (RG 10 Volumes 11007-11015, microfilm reels B05631-B05633). Following a number of unsuccessful attempts to resolve the problem of Indian land in British Columbia, a three-man commission made up of dominion and provincial representatives and a joint commissioner was established in 1876. In 1878 the body was restructured and G.M. Sproat made sole Indian Reserve Commissioner. Upon his resignation in 1880, Peter O'Reilly was appointed to the position. The Indian Reserve Commissioner was given by order-in-council some discretionary power to act in allotting reserves although he was to follow suggestions of the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works (representing the provincial government) and the Indian Superintendent for British Columbia (representing the federal authority) concerning the locations to be visited and reserves established. His actions were to be subject to confirmation by these two officers and failing their agreement, questions at issue were to be put to the Lieutenant Governor for decision. O'Reilly served as Indian Reserve Commissioner until February 1898 when his duties were assumed by A.W. Vowell who also held the post of Indian Superintendent for British Columbia. Vowell served concurrently in both offices until his retirement in 1910 at which time the positions were abolished. The records in this series represent the incoming correspondence of the Office of the Indian Reserve Commissioner between February 1884 and November 1898. They are arranged chronologically and a number of maps and plans accompany the letters.

II. Office of the Indian Superintendent for British Columbia, 1886-1894 (RG 10 volume 11016, microfilm reel B 5633). The process of establishing a federal presence in the administration of Indian Affairs in British Columbia was a complicated one in the first years after that province entered Confederation. In 1872 a Superintendent of Indian Affairs was appointed, but in the following year it was decided that a Board of Indian Commissioners should, under the direction of the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, administer Indian matters in the province. Although commissioners were appointed, the Board was not a success and in 1875 British Columbia Indian administration was reorganized through the creation of two superintendencies (Victoria and Fraser). Four years later this system was replaced by one of several agents under the direction of a visiting Indian Superintendent until 1889 when he was succeeded by A.W. Vowell. The office was abolished in 1910. The records represent incoming correspondence to the Office of the Indian Superintendent for British Columbia between November 1886 and November 1894. They are arranged chronologically and were originally maintained in bound gummed stub files.

III. Office of the Chief Inspector of Indian Agencies/Indian Commissioners for British Columbia, 1910-1956 (RG 10 volumes 11001 – 11006, microfilm reels B5633-B5637). When the office of the Indian Superintendent for British Columbia was closed in 1910, agents were directed to conduct all business through headquarters in Ottawa. In the same year, an inspectorate system was inaugurated with the appointment of three Inspectors of Indian Agencies for the southeastern, southwestern, and northern agencies. In 1917 W.E. Ditchburn, who had held the position of Inspector for the Southwestern Inspectorate, was promoted to the post of Chief Inspector for British Columbia and his former position was abolished. In the following year the Northern Inspectorate was likewise dispensed with. In 1923 Ditchburn took up the new position of Indian Commissioner for British Columbia, but following his death in 1932 the office was left vacant. It was abolished in 1935, only to be resurrected the next year. Between 1929 and 1937 an Assistant Commissioner also served in the commissioner's office. In 1948 a major reorganization of Indian Affairs in British Columbia was effected. The office of Indian Commissioner was retained while that of the Inspector of Indian Agencies for the Southeast Inspectorate was reclassified Regional Supervisor of Indian Agencies. The records in this series consist of files of the office of the Indian Commissioner for British Columbia, its precursors (the Inspectorates and the office of the Chief Inspector of Indian Agencies), and the subordinate office of Indian Inspector for the Southeastern Inspectorate (after 1923). Files are grouped by responsibility centre for, while they are all records of, or which found their way into, the Commissioner's office, each refers to operations in individual agencies.

IV. Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia, 1858-1930 (RG 10 volumes 11019 – 11028, microfilm reels B 5637-B 5650). In order to resolve the long-standing federal-provincial dispute concerning Indian lands in British Columbia, an Agreement was reached in September 1912 between special commissioners J.A.J. McKenna and provincial premier Richard McBride. It was decided that a Royal Commission be established with power to investigate Indian land matters, to adjust reserve acreage by reducing the size where the Commissioners deemed that the Indians had more land than needed, to determine the area to be added in cases where bands had insufficient land, and to set aside reserves for bands that had not yet received any. After acceptance of the McKenna-McBride Agreement by both governments, the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia was established in April 1913. N.W. White and J.A.J. McKenna were appointed commissioners by the federal government while J.P. Shaw and D.H. Macdowall were selected by the province. The fifth commissioner, E.L. Wetmore, was appointed Chairman. Upon the latter's resignation the Commission was re-constituted in 1914 with the addition of S. Carmichael and the elevation of White to the position of Chairman. From 1913 to 1916 the Commission travelled the province compiling evidence. Five progress and over one hundred interim and special reports were produced during the course of work in addition to the final Commission findings presented in 1916. The Commissioners were also authorized by a separate federal order-in-council of June 1913 to gather information on issues which, although extraneous to the terms of the McKenna-McBride Agreement, were nevertheless considered to affect the rights and interests of the Indian population. Their findings were the basis of a general report also submitted in 1916. In order to be implemented, the recommendations of the Royal Commission had to be approved by both governments. Following the passage of enabling legislation in 1919 and 1920, the task of adjusting the Commission's recommendations was delegated to W.E. Ditchburn and J.W. Clark (Federal and provincial representatives, respectively) who altered a number of the 1916 Report's suggestions. The Royal Commission report with the Ditchburn-Clark amendments was approved by provincial order-in-council #911 of 26 July 1923 and by federal order-in-council PC 1265 of 1924. The records in this series consist of correspondence relating to the Royal Commission's activities and an almost complete set of exhibits. In addition to land issues the files deal with such topics as surveys, water rights, hunting and fishing privileges, timber, and organization and administration of the Commission's work. The main files are arranged by agency. The series also includes copies of the hearings for each agency. Maps and plans accompany many of the files. With a few exceptions, the records date to the period 1913-1916.

V. British Columbia Field Office Records: Nass, Skeena, and Queen Charlotte Agencies, 1910-1968 (RG 10 volumes 10874 – 10883, microfilm reels B05650-B05653). When the agency system was adopted for Indian administration in British Columbia, the northern portion of the province was not immediately included. An agent was not appointed to the Northwest Coast Agency until 1886. In 1909 this agency was split into three: Bella Coola, Queen Charlotte, and Nass. The Nass Agency underwent further organizational changes, being divided in 1919 into two parts, Nass and Skeena. In 1922 these two offices were reunited as the Skeena River Agency. In the 1960s the Queen Charlotte and Skeena superintendencies were brought together in the Skeena River District, later named the North Coast District. Later field office amalgamations placed the bands of the North Coast District under the administration of the Terrace, and finally the Northwest District. The records in this series relate, for the most part to land in the Nass, Skeena, and Queen Charlotte agencies. Other subjects include water, timber, elections, mining, schools, adult education, and returned soldiers. The series is comprised of shannon files, some of which have now been divided and their parts given the artificial letter designations A, B, C, etc.

Canada. Department of Indian Affairs

Joint Reserve Commission records received by the Provincial Secretary

The records in this series consist of correspondence and reports inward to the Provincial Secretary from the Joint Indian Reserve Commission (Alexander Caulfield Anderson, Dominion Commissioner, Archibald McKinlay, Provincial Commissioner, and Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, Joint Commissioner). The records include reports; summaries of work; minutes of decision; census of Indian population, livestock and acreage of reserves; and two memoranda dated 1869 by J.W. Trutch regarding disputes about Indian lands in Cowichan district.

Copies of correspondence inward to the Lieutenant Governor from the Commissioners and certain correspondence with Dominion Officials is also included in the record. The records are as originally filed. In most cases, the original Provincial Secretary's file number may be seen on the first document in a file, eg., for file 3 the number is 664/76, representing the 664 document received in the year 1876.

Joint Reserve Commission

Minutes of decision of Joint Indian Reserve Commission

  • GR-2982
  • Series
  • 1876-1949; predominant 1876-1907

The series consists of minutes of decision of the Joint Indian Reserve Commission (1876-1878) of governments of Canada and British Columbia and of the Indian Reserve Commission (1878-1907) of the government of Canada regarding allotment of Indian reserves in British Columbia.

Records consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports and coloured maps of the reserve allotments. Although these records are called Joint Reserve Commission records, they probably form part of the British Columbia Department of Lands and Works fonds. Most of the records are stamped with the Lands and Works Dept. stamp and also have Lands and Works file numbers assigned to each, after they were received from the Commission. Some files then had additional related records added to by Department staff, as reserves were surveyed or related issues came up. Additional records were added to several files by Department of Lands staff up to 1949.

In addition, the series includes an item level precis of each document, created by the Dept. of Lands in 1980. The precis are filed in the first file of each box.

British Columbia. Dept. of Lands and Works

Records of Joint Reserve Commission

This series consists of the records of the Indian Reserve Commission (Joint Reserve Commission) relating to the allotment and establishment of Indian Reserves in British Columbia. Includes journal of proceedings (1877) and letterbook copies of correspondence outward (1876-1910).

Joint Reserve Commission

Royal Commission on Indian Affairs in British Columbia (1913-1916) : transcripts of evidence

The records include transcripts of evidence taken at hearings (1913-1916) and copies of minutes of decision for Cowichan, New Westminster, Okanagan, Kamloops and Lytton agencies taken by the Indian Reserve Commission (1876-1880).

See MS-1056 for typed transcripts.

Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia (1913-1916)

Joint Indian Reserve Commission : journal of proceedings : vol. I

This series consists of Volume I of the Journal of Proceedings of the Joint Indian Reserve Commission (JIRC) and documents the daily work of the three commissioners (Alexander Caulfield Anderson, Archibald McKinlay, and Gilbert Malcom Sproat) from November 1876 to June 1877 on the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. In addition to the text of the journal, there are also several ink and colour drawings of reserves.

Within the journal are several loose correspondence and drafts of documents, many of which are addressed to A.C. Anderson. These loose documents have been retained within the pages of the volume.

The JIRC was formed in 1876 to settle disputes between the federal and provincial governments regarding allotment of reserves in British Columbia. The JIRC operated until 1878, when it was replaced by the Indian Reserve Commission, for which Sproat remained the commissioner.

An attached document (see the finding aid note section of this description) provides a paginated listing of locations visited by the commissioners.

Joint Reserve Commission

Joint Reserve Commission correspondence

This series consists of Joint Indian Reserve Commission records, 1877-1878. Records include correspondence inward and outward and memoranda between Commissioners G.M. Sproat, A. McKinlay and A.C. Anderson and the Provincial Secretary and Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

Joint Reserve Commission

Letterbooks and other material

  • GR-2043
  • Series
  • 1881-1948

Records of British Columbia Indian Agencies; letterbooks, letters inward, subject files, general administration files, agents' journals, constable's reports, agricultural and industrial statistics, correspondence re Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia (1913-1916). Includes Alert Bay (1891-1909, 1913-1914), Babine (1888-1905), Bella Coola (1915-1921), Cowichan (1881-1948), Kamloops (1888-1915), Kootenay (1906-1919), New Westminster (1897-1922), Queen Charlotte (1888-1923), Stuart Lake (1910-1919), and West Coast (1895-1920) Indian Agencies. From volumes 1325-1328, 1336-1392, 1442-1449 1451-1495, 1563-1567, 1583-1591, 1648-1654, 1658-1665, Record Group 10.

Canada. Department of Indian Affairs

Correspondence and reports from Department of Provincial Secretary

  • GR-1665
  • Series
  • 1887-1953

This series contains miscellaneous correspondence and reports. These records were originally a part of the Provincial Secretary's central registry but, for reasons unknown, became separated from the department's main files. A wide variety of subjects are addressed in these records.

Many of the records in this unit concern investigations carried out under the authority of the Departmental Inquiries Act and the Public Inquiries Act. Many relate to conditions in public institutions and activities of government employees. Many inquiries relate to hospitals and schools in the province, including Vernon Mental Hospital, Tranquille Sanatorium, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and Provincial Mental Hospital at Essondale. Other inquiries and Commissions include bribery of the Liquor Control Board, the Beban Mine disaster, Royal Commission on Dominion Provincial Relations, Inquiry into the death of John Meredith Sweeney and the state and management of the Quartermaster Stores of the Provincial Police Force.

The records also relate to child welfare programs, including the general management of the Provincial Industrial School for Boys and to the Girls' Industrial School, ca. 1930-1945. Additional documents in this collection relate to subjects such as squatters' claims at the Granville Townsite [Vancouver (1887)], to the Fraser River Flood Relief programme (1894), applications for seed, the Victoria Consolidated Hydraulic Mining Co., government perquisites, legislation, estates, and to proposed sites for the University of British Columbia (1910). "Anti-Oriental" petitions and voting returns of the 1924 beer-by-the-glass plebiscite also included.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary

Reports on Commission on Statute Laws, 1886

  • GR-0472
  • Series
  • 1888-1889

Commission on Statute Laws handwritten report, dated March 1888, and typewritten report, dated January 1889.

British Columbia. Commission on Statute Laws, 1886

Commission on the Conduct of the Affairs of the Municipal Council of Victoria, 1891

  • GR-0687
  • Series
  • 1891-1892

This series consists of the records of the Commission on the Conduct of the Affairs of the Municipal Council of Victoria. Records include report and minutes of proceedings and evidence (printed).

British Columbia. Commission on the Conduct of the Affairs of the Municipal Council of Victoria, 1891

Commission on the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, 1894

  • GR-0482
  • Series
  • 1894

This series consists of records of the Commission on the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, 1894, Commissioners, Dr. Edward S. Hasell (Chairman) and Dr. Charles F. Newcombe. Records consist of the Commissioners' handwritten, signed report (and a typescript copy), exhibits and transcripts of evidence presented at the proceedings.

British Columbia. Commission on the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, 1894

Commission on the Nakusp and Slocan Railway, 1894

  • GR-0483
  • Series
  • 1894

This series consists of records of the Royal Commission on the Nakusp and Slocan Railway, 1894, including: report, exhibits and transcripts of evidence.

British Columbia. Royal Commission on the Nakusp and Slocan Railway [1894]

British Columbia Electric Railway Company records

The series consists of records created by the B.C. Electric Railway Company between 1894 and 1917. The series includes correspondence and newspaper clippings with the City of Victoria concerning the operation of jitneys, disposition of the Company's assets, and labour problems; correspondence with the provincial government re land purchases in Prince Rupert by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway; operating statements of the Company 1914-1916; evidence given by Victoria City before Dr. Adam Shortt, Commissioner into the affairs of the B.C. Electric Railway and newspaper clipping books.

Report of Judge on Commission on Charges Against J.P. Planta, Police Magistrate of Nanaimo, 1894

  • GR-0476
  • Series
  • 1895

Two copies of Judge Eli Harrison's report of the Commission to enquire into certain charges against Mr. J. P. Planta, police magistrate of the city of Nanaimo and into his general conduct as a police magistrate. One original copy and one carbon copy.

British Columbia. Commission to enquire into certain charges against Mr. J. P. Planta, police magistrate of the city of Nanaimo and into his general conduct as a police magistrate [1894]

Commission on the Provincial Gaol at Kamloops, 1898

  • GR-0477
  • Series
  • 1898

This series consists of records of the Commission on the Provincial Gaol at Kamloops, 1898, including a typewritten report of Commissioner Albert Beck, correspondence, and handwritten notes of evidence.

British Columbia. Commission on the Provincial Gaol at Kamloops, 1898

Bennett-Atlin Commission records

  • GR-0004
  • Series
  • 1898-1899

The series consists of records created by the "Bennett-Atlin Commission Act, 1899" to settle disputes as to mining claims in the Bennett Lake and Atlin Lake mining divisions. The records include applications to record claims, petitions of right, applications to the gold commissioner re involved records, calendar of cases, miscellaneous exhibits, decisions and judgements.

British Columbia. Bennett-Atlin Commission

Parliament Buildings Commission report and commission of Commissioner

  • GR-0375
  • Series
  • 1898

Report and commission of the “Royal Commission of Inquiry appointed under the "Public Inquiries Act," September 15th, 1898” by commissioner Angus John McColl. Also known as the "Commission on Contracts With Frederick Adams and Richard Drake for Work on the Parliament Buildings, 1898". Includes transcripts of evidence and exhibits.

British Columbia. Commission on Contracts With Frederick Adams and Richard Drake for Work on the Parliament Buildings, 1898

Commission on Allegations of Maladministration in Dept. of Lands and Works, 1898

  • GR-0478
  • Series
  • 1898

This series consists of records of the Commission on Allegations of Maladministration in Dept. of Lands and Works, 1898, including Report of Commissioner George A. Walkem and transcripts of evidence.

British Columbia. Commission on Allegations of Maladministration in Dept. of Lands and Works, 1898

Commission on the Conduct of Warden Armstrong or Guard Calbick of the Provincial Gaol at New Westminster, 1898

  • GR-0479
  • Series
  • 1898

This series consists of records of the Commission on the Conduct of Warden Armstrong Or Guard Calbick of the Provincial Gaol at New Westminster, 1898, including report of Judge Eli Harrison, transcripts of evidence, and exhibits.

British Columbia. Commission on the Conduct of Warden Armstrong Or Guard Calbick of the Provincial Gaol at New Westminster, 1898

Records of mineral claims

  • GR-0229
  • Series
  • 1898

The file consists of records created by the Department of the Interior in 1898. The file contains mineral claims in the Atlin District of British Columbia recorded under Yukon mining regulations.

Canada. Department of the Interior

Atlin mining recorder records

  • GR-0228
  • Series
  • 1898-1938

The series consists of records created by the Atlin Lake Mining Recorder between 1898 and 1938. It includes re-recorded claims, counterfoil books and records issued by order of the Bennett-Atlin Commission, 1899.

British Columbia. Mining Recorder (Atlin Lake)

Commission on Charges Against A.R. Green, 1899

  • GR-0688
  • Series
  • 1899

This series consists of a record of proceedings from the Commission of Inquiry to investigate certain charges made against A. R. Green by James J. Currie, respecting the conduct of the said A. R. Green while in the employment of the Inspector of Dykes, 1899.

British Columbia. Commission of Inquiry to investigate certain charges made against A. R. Green by James J. Currie, respecting the conduct of the said A. R. Green while in the employment of the Inspector of Dykes

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